Dance Thoughts: Importance of Modern and Having a Solid Foundation

Most people know in regards to dance, I'm a modern girl and love the history behind modern dance... I love all the choreographers that started the modern movement, like Mary Wigman who radically opposed classical dance values and movements and focused more on a feeling, which is what Isadora Duncan took in creating her style, focusing on emotions and movements became more pedestrian. Then other artists like Ruth St. Dennis focus their choreography in a feminist way and she meets Ted Shawn and together they form the Dennishawn school and company in Cali, creating "musical visualizations" I think they called them... Great modern artists to come, passed through this school. Such as, Doris Humphey (who focuses on the relationship between gravity and the human body) and Martha Graham (most famous student of Denishawn) who's dance style focused on the ‘center’ of the body, working with the floor and coordinated breathing a movement. Then there was Lester Horton, who created the technique that Alvin Ailey worked with to create the Alvin Ailey Company (One of my favorite companies) and this style of modern brought ethnic, social, and political issues to the forefront... especially those associated with African American heritage and culture because the original company was all African American dancers).  

My style focuses on the core teachings of these foundation techniques. When I'm teaching I certainly focus on Horton , but I have my own flavor in there as well, putting focus on breathing all the way through the music, and using your breath to generate a greater movement. Still working on things like core strength, and the flow of motion in relation to the music that coincides with it. Dance is an art, but people dance for different reasons, especially young dancers, and it's up to the studio and the teacher to enforce strong technique classes such as ballet and modern and educating their dancers on the history behind it. I strongly believe in core classes and knowing the history of specific styles and using them all to your advantage and growing and adapting as a Dancer as well as an artist... Get beyond the steps, understand the movement and fit it on your body. Its not about how high you can kick your leg, or how many pirouettes you can do... it's about the joy and emotions the dancing brings to the dancer and the overall impact the dancer bestows on their audience.
When dance is raw and organic and fully emboided... it is true, it is real, and it's what makes dance beautiful and meaningful to both the observer and the dancer.

"Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul"

                                                                      - Plato